Group that targeted 9-year-old downloader created Pirate Bay parody site.

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The Pirate Bay today said it filed a report with the Finnish police alleging that an anti-piracy group committed copyright infringement when it created a Pirate Bay parody site.

This follows a threat last week in which the Pirate Bay said it will sue the makers of the copycat website for copyright infringement. The Pirate Bay, of course, is used by many to distribute and download torrents of copyrighted files (it calls itself "world’s largest site for cultural diversity and file sharing"). The torrent site explains that it normally wouldn't mind copying, but it takes offense because this incident's perpetrator was the Copyright Information and Anti-Piracy Centre (CIAPC) in Helsinki.

"The reason [for the police report] is that CIAPC have copied files from which The Pirate Bay is built, to produce a fraudulent parody site," the Pirate Bay announcement said. "While The Pirate Bay may have a positive view on copying, it will not stand by and watch copyright enforcing organizations disrespect copyright. It's funny that we have to teach the copyright lobby the meaning of the law."

CIAPC has angered the Pirate Bay on numerous occasions. Last November, the house of a nine-year-old girl was raided by Finnish police because the girl downloaded a copyrighted music album from the Pirate Bay. The nonprofit CIAPC reportedly tracked the download, leading to the police investigation, which resulted in her Winnie the Pooh laptop being confiscated. CIAPC also has attempted to get Finnish ISPs to block the Pirate Bay.

The Pirate Bay said it filed the police report "Because we enjoy being a pain in the ass of the copyright lobby" and "because we think a certain 9 year old girl should have her computer back. Any money that might come out of this will fund a new computer for the girl."

The parody site, called “Piraattilahti” (“Pirate Bay” in Finnish), is still online. It provides a similar interface as the real Pirate Bay, but all links lead to a site with the message "You got lucky! Movies, TV shows, music, games and books ... Are all just a few clicks away! And totally legal!"

We've asked the Pirate Bay to provide a copy of its police report.

According to TorrentFreak, the report was filed with Finland police's economic crime unit, and "[t]he main complaint is that CIAPC copied the site’s homepage and the CSS file. This is a direct violation of The Pirate Bay’s usage policy which specifically prohibits organizations’ use of any site material without permission."

The Pirate Bay further argues that CIAPC can't defend itself by saying it's a parody in this case.

“In a similar case, the prosecution and the Helsinki Court of Appeals have found that a parody site can violate the moral rights of the original author. Changing the logo or making slight edits to the text are not enough to remove this liability,” Pirate Bay argued to police, according to TorrentFreak.

Did you read the article?Okay, I _totally_ misread you comment. I apologize.

Quote:

"The reason [for the police report] is that CIAPC have copied files from which The Pirate Bay is built, to produce a fraudulent parody site," the Pirate Bay announcement said. "While The Pirate Bay may have a positive view on copying, it will not stand by and watch copyright enforcing organizations disrespect copyright. It's funny that we have to teach the copyright lobby the meaning of the law."

They're delivering _irony_ here.

Ars missed an opportunity for a witty article title here. Irony is served!

Did you read the article?Okay, I _totally_ misread you comment. I apologize.

Quote:

"The reason [for the police report] is that CIAPC have copied files from which The Pirate Bay is built, to produce a fraudulent parody site," the Pirate Bay announcement said. "While The Pirate Bay may have a positive view on copying, it will not stand by and watch copyright enforcing organizations disrespect copyright. It's funny that we have to teach the copyright lobby the meaning of the law."

They're delivering _irony_ here.

Ars missed an opportunity for a witty article title here. Irony is served!

Yes, what the anti-piracy guys did was hypocritical. But TPB is coming back at them by acting hypocritical *themselves*, which is pretty much never the right response. It basically just puts both sides in the wrong.

Reminds me of the author of an iOS app piracy tool a few years ago whining about people pirating his piracy tool...hypocrisy is pretty easy to find on the interwebs these days.

I was going to say "Not as easy as finding stupidity", but then I realized you clearly meant the CIAPC was being hypocritical in pirating materials from a site they want to make access to completely illegal. Because there's no way you were coming down on the side of the jack-booted thugs who took a nine-year-old's winnie-the-pooh laptop.

Full disclosure: I did not write this. It was on Reddit, and I'm passing it along to help people understand what's going on with this Pirate Bay thing.

R_JeevesBasically TPB operates in a legal grey area and obviously is against copyright laws as they exist now because they stifle competition and prevent innovation - the opposite of what they're claimed to do by those who support copyright laws.

This group they're suing is a copyright law lobbying group, they attempt to strengthen copyright law by building support and funding. If they came up with an original site design and had some of their code stolen, they would be the first to sue the offender for copyright violation.

TPB is suing them not because TPB actually gives a shit about their IP, but because they want to send the message that our existing copyright law is so convoluted and out-of-touch with the reality of our newly web-based society that just about anyone can be found guilty of violating copyrights if you dig deep enough.

Essentially TPB is going to use the copyright lobby's own tools and words against them because A) It'll piss them off just like it pisses people off to repeat back everything they say at them like a child, and B) it'll result in a ruling that weakens copyright law no matter what, unless the case is tossed out, which I don't think it will be.

If you're wondering why it will weaken the copyright law, imagine the possible rulings: Either the group is found guilty of infringing TPB's site and has to pay damages, which destroys their credibility and shows people their hypocrisy of demanding everyone respect copyright except themselves of course, OR the group is NOT found guilty of infringing on the site and now any other case in which a site's CSS is copied becomes an open-and-shut ruling based on legal precedent, wherein the "infringer" gets off with no charge because this one copyright group got away with it (assuming they win).

1) TPB Pirates2) CIAPC wants to combat TPB by... pirating their site.3) TPB sees an opportunity for pointing out their own hypocrisy and uses the law against them4) Yes... someone probably profits!!!

It's like a cop chasing a car thief by stealing the thief's own personal car without due process, and then the thief suing. It doesn't mean TPB sanctions the law, it just means TPB is using the law of it's naive foes against them. In my eyes, it shows the CIAPC doesn't understand the law that it's trying to protect.

Did you read the article?Okay, I _totally_ misread you comment. I apologize.

Quote:

"The reason [for the police report] is that CIAPC have copied files from which The Pirate Bay is built, to produce a fraudulent parody site," the Pirate Bay announcement said. "While The Pirate Bay may have a positive view on copying, it will not stand by and watch copyright enforcing organizations disrespect copyright. It's funny that we have to teach the copyright lobby the meaning of the law."

They're delivering _irony_ here.

Ars missed an opportunity for a witty article title here. Irony is served!

Yes, what the anti-piracy guys did was hypocritical. But TPB is coming back at them by acting hypocritical *themselves*, which is pretty much never the right response. It basically just puts both sides in the wrong.

I don't think you can count what they are doing as hypocritical as they have stated they are doing so because it is a copyright group and for all of the grief they have been given, rightful or not, these other organizations for what they say should know better.

R_JeevesIf you're wondering why it will weaken the copyright law, imagine the possible rulings: Either the group is found guilty of infringing TPB's site and has to pay damages, which destroys their credibility and shows people their hypocrisy of demanding everyone respect copyright except themselves of course, OR the group is NOT found guilty of infringing on the site and now any other case in which a site's CSS is copied becomes an open-and-shut ruling based on legal precedent, wherein the "infringer" gets off with no charge because this one copyright group got away with it (assuming they win).

Except that if the group is found to be infringing, it doesn't weaken copyright law, it strengthens it. It may weaken this specific group, it may weaken the public credibility of the anti-piracy organization, but the **law** would be strengthened. Because the law doesn't care about *who* is doing the infringement or what their position is on the selfsame law, it only cares about what they did (and to some extent why they did it, e.g. fair use, but that is usually contained within the "what"). If TPB wins, it will set the precedent that copying CSS in this manner is illegal, which sets a precedent that further ingrains copyright law.

Quote:

I don't think you can count what they are doing as hypocritical as they have stated they are doing so because it is a copyright group and for all of the grief they have been given, rightful or not, these other organizations for what they say should know better.

That just makes it *more* hypocritical, not less. They're basically saying "copying is fine, but only when we think it is." That's pretty much the definition of what copyright is. By suing them over this, they acknowledge the legitimacy and authority of copyright law to protect copyright.

This would seem to be more of a trademark issue than a copyright one, no? The Finnish version has the same name and the same visual formatting as TPB, and the logo, while different, is in the same style as that of the site it parodies. The argument could be made that visitors may reasonably assume that the parody is TPB's official Finnish site.

Except that if the group is found to be infringing, it doesn't weaken copyright law, it strengthens it. It may weaken this specific group, it may weaken the public credibility of the anti-piracy organization, but the **law** would be strengthened. Because the law doesn't care about *who* is doing the infringement or what their position is on the selfsame law, it only cares about what they did (and to some extent why they did it, e.g. fair use, but that is usually contained within the "what"). If TPB wins, it will set the precedent that copying CSS in this manner is illegal, which sets a precedent that further ingrains copyright law.

It actually weakens, if they lose. There is at the moment citizens petition to get the copyright law changed, taking away the most dragonian parts of it, in Finland. Theres 16 000 signaries out of 50 000 goal line where government has to take stand on the issue.

No doubt the CIAPC would be opposing the change, but if they themselves are sanctioned for breaking exactly the same law they would be defending, they hardly have any credibility in the public and lawmakers eye. Especially when they have been acting like what they have done, wouldn't be illegal. This couldn't have happened at a worse time for them.

"Last November, the house of a nine-year-old girl was raided by Finnish police because the girl downloaded a copyrighted music album from the Pirate Bay"

Since TPB is only a tracker, its servers do not contain any copyrighted material... only links to files on computers all over the world. All files, copyrighted or otherwise, reside on users' computers. Therefore, the author of this article is incorrect when asserting that the girl downloaded the album from TPB.